Flood Bill Slated For Vote In Senate

Measure expected to have rougher time clearing the House

January 30, 2014

WHEELING - With a bill that would delay massive flood insurance premium increases for millions of property owners widely expected to pass the Senate today, Rep. David McKinley said he doesn't sense the same level of urgency from his colleagues in the House.

The Senate measure, which cleared a key procedural vote Monday, essentially hits the pause button on a federal law, known as the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act of 2012, which phases out "subsidized" premiums for properties covered under the FEMA-run National Flood Insurance Program. Property owners in flood zones will see their costs escalate in stages until they reach actuarially sound levels - but all new policies are being written at "full-risk" rates under the law, making it difficult to buy or sell property in a flood zone.

McKinley, R-W.Va., is among many lawmakers who voted for Biggert-Waters but are now leading the charge to soften its effects.

Article Photos

Photo by Scott McCloskeySheets of ice top Wheeling Creek in Bridgeport.

"I'm not getting the sense of urgency on both sides of the aisle. Some people are aware of it, but many people are not. ... Very few of them are as aware of it as we are in West Virginia," McKinley said Wednesday.

The proposed Senate fix would delay premium increases for four years, allowing time for FEMA to complete an affordability study that was supposed to be done before Biggert-Waters took effect Oct. 1.

But the Congressional Budget Office has predicted a four-year delay would cost the flood program, which is already almost $25 billion in the hole, another $2.1 billion over the next decade - a concern McKinley said is understandable.

"What they're looking for is a way to pay for it. ... And they're not (getting) good answers" from the Senate, he said.

Earlier this month, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said in no uncertain terms the House would not consider the legislation moving through the Senate, but left the door open for more modest relief for affected property owners. It's unclear what form such a bill would take, but McKinley believes one could emerge from the House Committee on Financial Services - chaired by Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R- Texas, an outspoken supporter of the Biggert-Waters Act - sometime next week.

Hensarling "said he plans to have a bill, and that's a very strong position for him to take," McKinley said.